Thursday, November 15, 2012

Guess why Mitt Romney thinks he lost? Is it because he failed in some way? Is it his stiff, corny, robotic, "uncanny" public persona? Is it because he ran such a lousy campaign that he couldn't beat a barely semi-popular incumbent in a barely mediocre economy? Is it because he's only won once out the four times he's run for office, and maybe he's just not good at it? Is it his fault in any way? Of course not. He thinks he lost the election because Obama essentially bribed various minority groups to vote Democratic.

You know, just a few days ago, I actually defended Romney when a friend said he doesn't have a shred of decency. I said I think he does. Well, I take that back. I take back every not-bad thing I've ever said about him. I was wrong.

I just wasn't sure who he was. (There are so many versions, after all.) I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But he's convinced me now. Charles P. Pierce likes to say that to the Romneys there are two types of people in the world: the Romneys, and the Help. I thought that was going too far. I was wrong, though, and Pierce was right. Romney really is the clueless, uncaring plutocratic dick of the "47 percent" speech. That's the real Mitt Romney. (To the extent that there is such a creature.)

Usually, a presidential candidate is almost an abstraction to me -- I like to say that I vote for policies, not people, and I would have voted against any current Republican and been glad he lost -- but Mitt Romney makes me truly glad that he, personally, the man himself, is the one who suffered this particular defeat. He deserves every last little bit of it.

Romney once said that he likes to be able to fire people who work for him. Well, this time it was the We the Help that fired Romney. And ain't that a bitch?